Hopes that Beijing's Olympic baseball venue would be preserved for the future development of the sport in China have been dashed as the stadium's developer revealed it would be dismantled and replaced by a shopping mall.
The 15,000-seat Wukesong Sports Center baseball field, listed by Olympic organisers as a temporary venue even before the Games were held in August, had become the first venue slated for the wrecking ball, the Beijing News said today.
'Our preliminary plan is to supply Beijing residents with a leisure centre combined with shopping, culture, sports and entertainment,' Guo Jinjiao, deputy manager of the development company, told the paper.
The 200m yuan (€21m) stadium played host to a Major League Baseball exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres last March.
But apart from the MLB's rental fee for that game, it had not derived any income, the paper said.
'It could only be guaranteed if there were enough activities to attract people to the venue. We absolutely could not accept any suggestion of (keeping the field) to be used only once or twice a year,' said Mr Guo.
MLB officials had had many conversations with Chinese Olympic and sport authorities and the developer to try to save the venue, Michael Marone, a Beijing-based MLB spokesman, told wire services.
'Obviously it's a shame. You would prefer to have it kept as a relic of the Olympic Games and to help baseball culture to further develop here,' Mr Marone said.
An official with the Chinese Baseball League said the league did not have the resources for the stadium's upkeep.
'We also wanted to save the venue but we are not the owners. It was a temporary facility,' Chen Gang, a CBL official said.
China's national baseball team struggled against the world's big hitters at the Beijing Games, finishing eighth out of eight teams.
Baseball remains a fringe sport in China, and the six-team professional league set up in 2002 struggles to attract more than a few dozen spectators to regular matches.
The field's demise has nonetheless been greeted with dismay be local baseball fans.
'It is the best field in China, a place borne with the dreams of countless baseball fans and that has witnessed historic moments. It is already a Holy Land in our heart,' said a post on the website of the China Baseball League.
